Charitable giving is up this December

Donations to charity are up 15% over December 2010.

The recession has taken its toll on charities. When money is tight for millions of Americans, it is hard to find room in the budget for charitable donations. The good news this year is that although the economy hasn’t yet recovered, donations are picking up.

Network for Good is reporting that charitable donations this month are up 15 percent over December 2010. November donations were 20 percent higher than same-month contributions last year.

Although this is good news, there’s even more positive news for charities: about 22 percent of donations made during the month of December come on the last two days of the year.

So this December, which is already noticeably better than last December, may get even better as people get their last-minute donations in today and tomorrow. Some people take the term last-minute to a new level as Network for Good reports that online donations peak between noon and 7 p.m. on Dec. 31.

The growth of online donations has helped charities boost their fundraising efforts this year. Unfortunately, donations are still off from pre-recession numbers and charities are still feeling the pinch.

Network for Good conducted an informal poll of some of its members, and 40 percent feel optimistic about their fundraising efforts, 40 percent are unsure what the fundraising season will bring and 19 percent are pessimistic.

If you’d like to get a last-minute charitable donation in, check out Network for Good for nonprofit organizations that accept online donations.